Microsoft plans to issue non-update update for Win 7

Microsoft will spit out dummy updates for Windows 7 beta testers next week that will probe the forthcoming operating system’s updating abilities.

The software firm said no new features or bug fixes would be added via the updates that will be available from 24 February as manual downloads.

Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc said on the company’s corporate blog that up to five updates will be released to PCs running the Windows 7 beta (build 7000) via its Windows Update service.

“These updates allow us to test and verify our ability to deliver and manage the updating of Windows 7. We typically verify servicing scenarios during a beta,” he said.

LeBlanc was at pains to emphasise that the updates wouldn’t actually update anything. Instead they would “simply replace system files with the same version of the file currently on the system,” he said.

Meanwhile, later builds of Windows 7 have been spotted out in the wild. As we reported last week, screenshots of a 64-bit Enterprise edition of build 7032 can be found on the interwebs. It popped up just days after build 7022 was leaked to torrent sites.

Softpedia claimed on Wednesday that a select bunch of MS testers have already received Win 7 build 7048. However, it’s not clear at this stage if the build will carry the release candidate status.

Speculation has been rife that Win 7 would RC in April, a move that some beta testers have expressed concern about. However, Microsoft has declined to offer up a definitive date.

An MS flack gave The Register this statement last week: “We’re not aware of any planned announcements in the imminent future, and do not believe there is anything lined-up beyond what has been publically [sic] road-mapped.”

Last week Microsoft slammed the door shut on its Windows 7 beta download program, at least officially anyway. Anyone still keen to get their hands on the beta can simply amble along to a torrent tracker site for a copy of the build.